Aging and integrating spatial mental models

Previous research examining the process of integrating spatial information has suggested that older adults retain an ability to use mental models despite declines in working memory capacity. In the current study of both older and young adults, the authors assessed whether mental model performance declines when working memory limitations affect the ability to retain the information needed to initially construct a model. Participants were presented with 3 spatial descriptions that could have been integrated to form a single mental model (e.g., K. Ehrlich & P. N. Johnson-Laird, 1982). Descriptions were continuous (i.e., AB-BC-CD) or discontinuous (i.e., AB-CD-BC) in various stimulus formats: sentences, word diagrams, and pictures. Across the experiments, older adults showed difficulty integrating information, especially in the discontinuous condition, unless pictures were used. The results suggest that older adults' use of mental models can be compromised when spatial information is presented verbally rather than visually.